This invention relates to alkyl 2-thiosubstituted-3-substituted-2-butenoates and to a method for their synthesis.
Alkyl 2-thiosubstituted-3-substituted-2-butenoates are useful intermediate products for the production of antibiotics and other compounds.
General background of synthesis routes to related compounds is provided by Durman, et al, Alkylation of Extended Enolates from .alpha.-Phenylthio Crotonate Esters, Tetrahedron Letters, Vol. 24, No. 20, p. 2113-2116 (1983); Takaki, et al, Synthesis and Chemical Properties of .alpha.-Alkyl(aryl)thiovinyl Isocyanates, J. Org. Chem., Vol. 43, No. 3, p. 402-405 (1978); and Rosnati, et al, The Ad.sub.N S.sub.N E Mechanism in the Reaction of Phenol and Benzenethiol with .alpha.-Bromo Michael Acceptors in the K.sub.2 CO.sub.3 -Acetone System, Gazzetta Chemica Italiana, Vol. 111, p. 249-256 (1981).